NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Continuing with its mission to provide every day opportunities for students to develop engineering skills, PTC (NAS: PMTC) , today announced its continued support of FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®). Building on previous years, PTC will support seven regional competitions throughout the United States and Israel in addition to sponsoring 82 FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) teams, 35 FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC®) teams, and nine FIRST® LEGO® League teams during the 2012-2013 season.

At the 2013 FRC Kickoff event to be held on Saturday, January 5, PTC is one of two named Kickoff Sponsors. The FRC game will be unveiled during a live broadcast to approximately 52,000 participants worldwide over NASA TV. PTC President and CEO, Jim Heppelmann, will be one of the featured speakers at the Kickoff which begins at 10:30 EDT

"PTC is a Strategic Partner of FIRST and the company is fully committed to the values of FIRST. PTC shares our goal of helping students develop STEM skills," said Robert Tuttle, Interim President, FIRST. "PTC works very hard to connect FIRST students to mentors not only with its 6,000 employees, but also with their 27,000 global manufacturing customers so that students worldwide can develop the engineering skills that are in high demand from these organizations."

FIRST reaches an estimated 300,000 students worldwide annually. FIRST designs accessible, innovative, mentor-based STEM programs for K-12. These programs inspire young people to think, design and create something physical using their engineering knowledge and skills. As a Strategic Partner of the FIRST Progression of Programs for K-12,PTC provides free software, including PTC Creo®, PTC Mathcad® and PTC Windchill® to all participating FIRST teams. PTC has offered Windchill in the cloud toFRC and FTC teams since 2008 allowing thousands of students, along with their teachers and professional mentors, to collaborate on their designs anytime, anywhere. This year teams in the FIRST LEGO League and Jr. FIRST LEGO League can also access the software.

"I enjoy working with PTC in reaching out to the students who participate in the FIRST Robotic Competitions," said Sue Peckham, engineering manager, co-chair of FIRST initiative, BAE Systems. "Helping students understand and apply the same design and collaboration principles used in a manufacturing environment will enable them to better understand the challenges in this fast-paced industry and at BAE Systems'."

"FIRST is the cornerstone of our community relations program because it delivers value on multiple dimensions," said Robin Saitz, SVP, solutions marketing & communications and FIRST Executive Sponsor, PTC. "FIRST is one of the best investments PTC can make because it highlights the benefits of integrating real-world technology into education by inspiring young people to pursue STEM disciplines in college. This will ultimately build a global workforce of engineers, which will help our customers achieve and maintain a competitive advantage."

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST®(For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and nearly $16 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST®Robotics Competition (FRC® ) for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST®Tech Challenge (FTC® ) for Grades 7-12; FIRST®LEGO®League (FLL® ) for Grades 4-8; and Junior FIRST®LEGO®League (Jr.FLL®) for Grades K-3. Gracious Professionalism® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.

PTC (NAS: PMTC) enables manufacturers to achieve sustained product and service advantage. The company's technology solutions help customers transform the way they create and service products across the entire product lifecycle - from conception and design to sourcing and service. Founded in 1985, PTC employs over 6,000 professionals serving more than 27,000 businesses in rapidly-evolving, globally distributed manufacturing industries worldwide. Get more information at www.ptc.com.

PTC and its logo, Windchill, Creo and Mathcad are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.